Multicultural Education is a type of instruction dedicated to the awareness of diversity. Teachers incorporate multicultural education in the classroom by building respect and appreciation in the classroom for multiple cultures. The purpose of multicultural education is to try to deflate the ignorance and stereotypes that surround cultures that are foreign to one’s own. According to Keith Wilson, the “approach to teaching and learning is based upon consesnsus building, respect, and fostering cultural pluralism within racial societies.”
There are several benefits to multicultural education. A vast majority of our population in our public schools in the U.S are people of different ethnicities. In order to diminish the hostilities between the students, for reasons like, race, religion, etc., the students must be desensitized to the differences they may have in appearances or in beliefs. Students at a young age must learn to accept others for their differences with an open-minded understanding.
According to Jean Ormrod, there are several ways multicultural education can be incorporated into the school’s curriculum:
Language Arts: Study poetry from a variety of different authors that have diverse backgrounds.
Mathematics: use mathematical principles to address multicultural tasks and problems. Example: Use geometrical shapes to create a Navajo rug
Science: relate nature and/or biological concepts to the farming practices around the world
Social Studies: Acquaint students with different religious beliefs.
History: Study wars and major historical events from a variety of perspectives
- Study current events and also events of the past.
Multicultural Education is a type of instruction dedicated to the awareness of diversity. Teachers incorporate multicultural education in the classroom by building respect and appreciation in the classroom for multiple cultures. The purpose of multicultural education is to try to deflate the ignorance and stereotypes that surround cultures that are foreign to one’s own. According to Keith Wilson, the “approach to teaching and learning is based upon consesnsus building, respect, and fostering cultural pluralism within racial societies.”
There are several benefits to multicultural education. A vast majority of our population in our public schools in the U.S are people of different ethnicities. In order to diminish the hostilities between the students, for reasons like, race, religion, etc., the students must be desensitized to the differences they may have in appearances or in beliefs. Students at a young age must learn to accept others for their differences with an open-minded understanding.
According to Jean Ormrod, there are several ways multicultural education can be incorporated into the school’s curriculum:
Language Arts: Study poetry from a variety of different authors that have diverse backgrounds.
Mathematics: use mathematical principles to address multicultural tasks and problems. Example: Use geometrical shapes to create a Navajo rug
Science: relate nature and/or biological concepts to the farming practices around the world
Social Studies: Acquaint students with different religious beliefs.
History: Study wars and major historical events from a variety of perspectives
- Study current events and also events of the past.
Created by Mantha Fotiadis
Resources:
Multiculturalism. (2010, November 08). YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhGsy3QUSow
Ormrod, J. E. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
Wilson, K. (n.d.). Multicultural Education. Multicultural Education. Retrieved from http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/keith.html